


i walk on the road that you started

by synthiesia



Series: i’d like the company through every twist and turn [2]
Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: BAMF Nicky | Nicolò di Genova, Canon-Typical Violence, Established Relationship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Immortal Husbands Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova, M/M, Post-Canon, Protective Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-13
Updated: 2020-12-13
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:54:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28039491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/synthiesia/pseuds/synthiesia
Summary: Nile was so used to Nicky being theheartof the group, there was something almost disturbing about being faced with the utter brutality he was capable of when Joe was in danger.
Relationships: Booker | Sebastien le Livre & Nile Freeman, Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Series: i’d like the company through every twist and turn [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1853263
Comments: 9
Kudos: 321





	i walk on the road that you started

**Author's Note:**

> listen i love protective joe, same as everyone else, but protective nicky going absolutely feral is so very important to me. i feel like joe is quieter in his protectiveness- like when he killed keane, it was so quiet and decisive- and i feel like nicky would go absolutely feral in his protectiveness (just...some of the looks on his face in the film, like when joe was stabbed)
> 
> story was taken down so i could submit it to a writing application. now that applications are done i can put it back online.
> 
> title is once again from in case you don't live forever by ben platt, which is a very nicky/joe song

When the first job they did after their little vacation went sideways, Booker made a joke about Nile being cursed.

She had laughed, even as she’d been afraid, and she knew that was the point. She was still the newest, only eight months into this, and she was afraid- not of death, not anymore, but of what these people planned to do to them. Of the _pain_.

The people who captured them didn’t know they were immortal. All these people knew was that the four of them interrupted their little human trafficking scheme, freed a handful of college vacationers and sent them on their way.

They’d caught Joe first, before everyone else. They’d caught the rest of them when they came to investigate where he’d went.

Nile couldn’t help but think Andy and Quynh had the right idea, sitting this one out to continue their vacation a little bit longer, even as Nile didn’t regret what they’d done.

The three of them were put in a cell- they weren’t sure where Joe was. Nile was pretty sure they’d been here a little under an hour, though she couldn’t be too sure, and no one had even bothered to come in and check on them. Booker was complaining, “It’s insulting, really, that they think we can’t escape,” but the thing was they couldn’t, not until someone came in.

She could see the concerned looks Booker kept shooting Nicky from where he was leaning against the wall. Nicky was pacing at the front of the cell, and was tenser than Nile had ever seen him- which was saying something, given everything that happened with Dr. Kovak.

Eventually someone came in, speaking to them in a language Nile didn’t recognize. 

The man gestured at them all, and Nicky’s eyes went wide. He growled something out, stalking to the very edge of the cell. The man raised an eyebrow and spat something back in the same language, and Nicky snapped at him. The man laughed as he left, Nicky watching him the whole time.

Booker was standing now, tense, but didn’t approach where Nicky was leaning on the bars. “ _Forgive me_ ,” he didn’t sound terribly apologetic, “but my Bulgarian is a little rusty. Care to catch us up?” 

“They are…upset, that we put a stop to their enterprise.” Nicky still didn’t look at them, even as he spoke, and he didn’t elaborate beyond that.

“What’s going to happen now?” Nile couldn’t help but ask, looking between them.

He didn’t respond, continuing to stare at the door. Booker looked between the two of them, his face morphing into one of concern. He still didn’t approach Nicky, though.

Ten minutes later the man came back in. He was laughing as he came in, and there was something in his hand.

He threw it on the floor in front of them, said something in Bulgarian, and left.

It took Nile a minute to realize what it was he’d brought in. It didn’t register in her brain at first, but when Nicky started yelling in what sounded like a variety of languages, his hands wrapped around the bars as if he could pull them out himself,, she could put it together. 

It was _a finger_. 

Booker’s eyes had gone wide, and he looked between Nile and Nicky like he wasn’t a hundred percent sure what to do. Nile knew she was probably making the same face.

“ _Nicky_.” Booker said, trying to catch his attention. “Nicholas, _please_.” Nicky was still looking wild, shouting at the door, and didn’t even seem to be hearing Booker.

After a moment, Nile had an idea. She said the word carefully. “Nicky, please. _Calmati_.” She was pretty sure she said it right, but she hadn’t been learning Italian for that long. It was a word she’d heard him say, though, to Joe, and she was pretty sure she got it right, and it got his attention, which is what she had been going for.

“Li ucciderò se soltanto pensano di fargli del male.” He responded tiredly, slumping against the bars. Nile blinked.

“Nicky, I’m not nearly that good at Italian yet.”

He exhaled, staring at the door. “We need to get out of here.” Nile was fairly confident that wasn’t what he had originally said- she was pretty sure ucciderò meant kill.

It was some amount of time later- it had all started to blur together for Nile- when the door opened again.

The same man came in once more, and this time he had blood on his arms and hands, and a strange expression on his face- one Nile recognized, one that usually meant someone had seen something remarkable.

One that usually meant someone had seen one of them die and come back.

She was worried, obviously, what that would mean for them. Of course, it ended up not actually mattering. He came just a little too close to the bars, and in a flash Nicky had grabbed him, slamming his head into the bars with a crack. The man crumpled, and Nicky reached out to the body, finding the key and freeing himself.

His face was blank and calm as he did it, and in a moment he had taken off.

Booker moved slower than Nile had expected, searching the body for a weapon. “Shouldn’t we go help him??”

“Remember that time in the church, with Andy?” Booker countered. Nile nodded. “Yeah, he doesn’t need our help. We’ll just get in his way.” There was screaming now that could be heard from the other room.

Procuring a weapon, Booker turned to Nile. “Alright, come on.”

The building was eerily empty, calm except for the noises they could hear, and they followed the sound, making their way up some stairs and down another hallway. By the time they reached the end, reached a set of double doors, the noises had stopped. Nile felt more than a little unsettled, not knowing what to expect when they swung the door open. But whatever it was she thought would be on the other side of it, this wasn’t it.

She remembered the carnage that had been at the church, when Andy had killed everyone who was looking for them. There had been bodies everywhere, but it had been dark.

She still was pretty sure it hadn’t been this bloody a scene.

The room was covered in blood. It wasn’t just on the bodies- the _pieces_ of bodies- that littered the floor. It lined the walls, too, and maybe even the ceiling at parts. It looked like maybe a bomb had gone off, and maybe one had- maybe that's what Nicky was, a bomb, set off when someone threatened Joe.

Because Nicky was as covered as blood as the rest of the room. He'd clearly found his sword, had cut down anything he thought was a threat, till there was nothing left standing. And there really was nothing left- even as he was still moving around the room, still looking for some threat, there wasn't anything left to fight- there was barely anything left at all.

Joe was sitting up, propped against a wall, his left hand cradled against his chest- Nile could see his pinky growing back, and that still made her a little sick to look at. He was watching Nicky with an expression that was far too fond given what Nicky was doing. What Nicky had done.

Booker set about the room, collecting their belongings from where they were scattered. Nile approached Nicky cautiously, but before she could say anything Nicky had turned his sword on her. He had a wild, almost feral look in his eyes, and Nile knew he wasn’t really seeing her at all.

She swallowed and held her ground, not moving, but not letting him think her a threat, either. “ _Nicky_.” He blinked, and then looked around the room, his sword clattering to the floor. He rushed over to Joe, moving across the room in a heartbeat. It was an entirely too tender scene given the carnage around them, Nicky clutching Joe’s face, pressing their forwards together, and Nile looked away, collecting Nicky’s sword before going to help Booker.

She was startled by absolute bloodbath in the room. Not because of how bloody and grotesque it is- she’d gotten used to that- but because it was Nicky who had created it.

Nile was so used to Nicky being the _heart_ of the group, and there was something almost disturbing about being faced with the utter brutality he was capable of. She knew he fought in the crusades, same as Joe, and she knew he was a good fighter- she’d seen him in action.

But this was different. This felt _personal_ , less like a fight and more like a _massacre_.

Nile was struck suddenly by the fact that no matter how protective Joe acted of Nicky, no matter how protective they all _knew_ Joe was, this….feral, protective thing lived inside of Nicky. She was struck by the realization that she had very rarely seen Joe get hurt.

Looking at the carnage around her again, she could guess why.

Eventually Booker has finished collecting all their stuff, and Nile and he can no longer make themselves look busy, so Nicky stands back up, pulling Joe up with him.

They can see the different wounds all over Joe’s chest, parts of him growing back in, his shirt in tatters. He does seem to be healing, albeit slowly, as they make their way out of the room. Booker and Nile get in the front seat when they finally steal a car, Nicky pulling Joe into his lap in the backseat.

Everyone was tense, and they didn’t untense for a long time. Not until they were back behind the locked doors of the safehouse.

By the time they arrived at the safehouse, several hours later, Joe’s wounds had healed and his finger had grown back. Nicky’s hands still hovered, though, and Joe was still covered in blood.

Joe let Nicky herd him into bathroom of their room, methodically strip them both, and push them both into the shower. He leaned his forehead against Nicky’s chest, sighing. It didn’t hurt, not anymore, but he could still feel the ghosts of the hands holding him down, beating him and stabbing him, cutting through the bone.

He focused instead on Nicky’s hands. His world became three points of contact- the hot water on his back, his forehead against Nicky’s chest, and Nicky’s hands running over him- down his sides, through his hair, while he quietly professed his love, his feelings, how much he cared, how Joe was the light of his life and symbolized everything good in the world.

Eventually Joe lifted his head off of Nicky’s chest, and Nicky leaned his own head forward to meet his in a familiar gesture of comfort. They leaned their foreheads together and just breathed, for a moment. Joe could feel Nicky’s hands shaking against his side, the adrenaline still coursing through his veins, and he pressed a light kiss to his lips. “ _Sono qui. Sto bene_.”

Nicky nodded against his forehead, sighing deeply. They stood there long after the blood had finished washing away, till the water ran clear in the drain. “ _Habib albi, Yusuf_.” Nicky murmured.

“ _Tesoro, Nicolo_.” Joe responded.

Eventually they toweled off and made their way to their bed. Joe curled himself around Nicky, pressed flush against his back.

He could feel the adrenaline finally leaving Nicky’s body, his frame relaxing underneath Joe’s arms, and Joe could feel _himself_ relaxing too.

They would be okay. This was not the worst thing that they had faced, and while it was bad, especially on the tail end of what they had recently faced, this would pass. All things did with time.

Joe looked at Nicky, laying softly in his arms, and thought about Nicky, cutting apart anyone who had dared to hurt him. Nicky, who was their heart, the best of them all. Nicky, who turned feral when someone had hurt Joe. He pressed a kiss in between his shoulder blades.

“What’s on your mind?” It was asked lightly. Joe didn’t always want to talk about the things he went through, and he knew Nicky knew that. Things would pass, and sometimes he preferred not to dwell on them. He pressed another kiss in between Nicky’s shoulder blades, this time smiling.

“I was thinking about you, my love.” He said softly. “Always you.”

“Mmm.” Nicky turned ever so slightly, and Joe pressed a kiss to the side of his mouth. “I was worried about you.”

“I am alright, now. You made sure of that.” Joe pulled Nicky closer, smiling. His love for this man was eternal. It is the one thing that would not pass.

Sometimes, he thought maybe he wasn’t made immortal to do good for everyone else after all. That was a bonus, an added benefit the world reaped. Sometimes, in moments like these, he thought maybe he was made immortal specifically to love this man for eternity.

He wasn’t sure even eternity would be long enough.

**Author's Note:**

> the next fic will go into andy/quynh on their continued vacation, and quynh having to tackle some issues she's facing because of what happened to her- i feel like like sensitivity, fear of water, and being overwhelmed by people are all things that would happen after being stuck in the ocean for 500 years.
> 
> leave kudos and a comment if you like it !!


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